Are freezing rain and sleet considered the same thing?

Answer 1

No.

Sleet is frozen droplets of water (usually used to mean soft snow like pellets in Europe and hard ice pellets in the US). These typically bounce when they hit the ground.

Freezing rain is supercooled droplets of liquid water. These freeze on contact with the ground (or anything else indeed). For this reason, freezing rain can be far more treacherous because it leads to very slippery conditions, and if it forms ice on structures such as power cables or trees the weight can cause them to fail.

Answer 2

No. Freezing rain or freezing drizzle is rain occurring when surface temperatures are below freezing, causing the rain to freeze when it hits the ground or other objects, such as trees and power wires. When freezing rain forms a substantial glaze layer over everything, it starts to be an icestorm, like the ones that devastated parts of New England and Canada in early 1998. Freezing rain and drizzle happen when temperatures are slightly below freezing. Sleet can be easily identified as frozen rain drops (ice pellets) which bounce when hitting the ground. They are frozen before coming down. Sleet does not stick to trees and wires.

Answer 3

From personal experience, living in western Montana for about 13 years, there is a difference. Sleet is basically really wet, really loose snow, usually melting upon contact. Freezing rain is literally freezing rain. It is so cold, the air is so cold, the ground and plants, etc. are so cold that it just freezes upon contact. It is indeed treacherous as it can cause black ice to form on the roads.
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I guess I'm wrong about sleet. I always thought it was that really wet, melty snow. So it's like tiny hail balls?

Answer 4

no sleet is rain that freezes in the middle atmosphere (because the middle atmosphere at that time would have to be 32 degrees or lower) in the winter and falls as ice pellets. Freezing rain just simply falls as rain because the middle atmosphere is warmer the 32 degrees but then hits the ground and freezes because the ground temp is 32 degrees or lower

Answer 5

Freezing rain occurs when precip (which starts as snow) falls through a deep 'warm' later (above freezing), melts, and falls into the surface layer which is below freezing. It freezes on contact.

Sleet occurs when snow falls through a shallow warm layer and melts, then falls into a deeper below freezing layer and re-freezes into sleet. You can tell the difference b/c sleet makes a pelting noise when it hits objects.

Answer 6

no freezing rain is liquid when it hits earth

Answer 7

yes, the differance is the name! one must be made up because when god first created the world (if he did) no two natural things had the same name as far as my knowlage goes!!

Answer 8

Yes, its only the name which differs.

Answer 9

yes